The Southern Medical University was founded in October 1951 by the People’s Liberation Army of China, under the name of the First Military Medical University. It was made into a premier medical university in 1978 and was then handed over to the local Guangdong Province government, gaining its new name of Southern Medical University in 2004.
Located at the foot of the beautiful Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou, the main campus, along with the campus in the southern suburb of Guangzhou covers an area of almost one million square metres. It has been awarded for its garden status as it boasts rows of green trees and flowers that blossom on the campuses all year round.
The university comprises 16 colleges and schools, including the School of Basic Medicine, the School of Clinical Medicine, the School of Biomedical Engineering, the School of Chinese Traditional Medicine and the School of Public Health. The Southern Medical University is often ranked among the top Chinese medical colleges and universities.
It also has seven affiliated hospitals: Nanfang Hospital, Zhujiang Hospital, Hua’nan Hospital, Nanhua Hospital, Stomatology Hospital, Pingxiang Hospital and Jiangdu Hospital, six of which have been ranked as first-class hospitals. It has also established long-term links with more than 100 military or civilian hospitals, among which include the Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital.
The university’s facilities include a football ground, an athletics ground and a swimming pool. The Southern Medical University’s library has a collection of over 1 million volumes, as well as 2,300 Chinese and foreign periodicals.